I used to sometimes hide behind firs and conifers in the moonlight -even in our front garden – and take a long, drunken teenage piss after the pub. Picking off the needles with the other hand to crush and release the scent in the night air,there is a certain sense of liberation and intimacy for me associated with light green cones and evergreens…………..; for a few opening seconds when smelling this scent I was taken to a different, new but strangely familiar place; able to imagine the immediate revitalization of holiday on the ‘riviera’ – the light and shade; of careless time spent in the brand new environs of the great beckoning outdiors.
In Francis Kurkdijian’s first work for the house as resident perfumer, there is a lift. An immediate sense of city respite. Yet despite the energy that is present in the perfume (you don’t just throw the scent strip away but go back to smelling it at least a few more times, it has a certain life of its own), for me, I am pretty sure that a gradual lassitude would quickly creep in if I were to wear Dioriviera. In the same way that the ingenious Baccarat Rouge gets snagged on one incessant (stark and fuzzily deceptively simplistic) theme of saffron, jasmine and burnt amber; impeccable, erotic, but grating, the very fixed and linear structure of the fig/rose/coniferous ‘green’notes’ of this light getaway scent – fresh and potentially quite sexy; pared down and intricately interlocked – in truth, just have me yearning for real nature. Actual nature.
You write the most extraordinary reviews of perfume. I find it all so fascinating. I am always looking for a signature scent. I am liking Mojave Ghost by Byredo but always seeking the perfect perfume.
I think we all are :
but thanks for saying this – today’s was a bit rude but I couldn’t help the tight young pine cone associations !
Ps
Tell me why Mojave Ghost : I should go and retry it
Haha… the uncanny valley of almost real nature? Like an artificial lawn?
A little … yes. Good way of putting it !
I love the resin scent of green pines in nature, haven’t yet found it reproduced in perfume. Maybe a bit by Serge Lauren’s in the Aguille-whatever it was called, can’t remember the name offhand.
I love Lumiere Noire pour femme by Kurkdjian but find his other perfumes do tend to have an irritating synthetic edge, to my nose anyway. I never got on with Baccarat Rouge on myself or others, though I do really love Kurkdjian’s creativity and style!
‘Lutens’ I mean, dearie me.
Oh yes he is a God, to be sure
I am a Dior fan but not a Kurkdijian fan. The notes sound gorgeous. I’ll try it when I return to civilization.
I wanted to try Diorrissima and the India Mahdavi X J’Dore too